62 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



region, in which it preserves all the characters by 

 which it is distinguished in Europe, and never pro- 

 duces in its wild state a mixed breed with its supposed 

 variety. No naturalist since Buffon has imagined such 

 a transformation possible. In our Menageries a mixed 

 breed is sometimes obtained, but with the greatest 

 difficulty, and the product is absolutely incapable of 

 continuing the race. It requires indeed no small de- 

 gree of care and attention to procure a breed from the 

 Golden Pheasants themselves. Much of the difficulty, 

 as well as much of the tenderness of constitution mani- 

 fested by these birds, is attributed by M. Temminck to 

 the close confinement in which they are usually kept, 

 and to the very precautions which are taken to preserve 

 them from the effects of cold. He advises that they 

 should be gradually habituated, like the more common 

 race, to the large pheasantries in which the latter are 

 preserved, and doubts not that, as they multiplied 

 under such circumstances, they woidd become more 

 and more hardy, until at last they would be fully capa- 

 ble of supporting the cold of our northern winters. 

 The experiment, he tells us, has already been made in 

 Germany, where they have been kept at perfect liberty 

 in an open pheasantry, in company with the common 

 species, and suffered no greater inconvenience than the 

 latter from the change of seasons. We anticipate an 

 equally favourable result from the repetition, under the 

 auspices of the Zoological Society, of this attempt to 

 naturalize so brilliant an addition to our native game. 

 Such an experiment could not have been made with 

 any chance of success in the Gardens in the Regent's 

 Park ; but the farm in the neighbourhood of Kingston, 

 of which the Society has lately become possessed, 

 affords the fairest prospect of carrying this and many 

 similar undertakings into complete effect. 



